Engineering:TAPAS-BH-201

TAPAS-BH-201 is a long endurance Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which used to be previously referred as Rustom-II, being developed by India on the lines of the American Predator drones. First flight of the UAV took place in November 2016 after a 3-year delay. It was revealed at that time that the UAV has been renamed from Rustom-II to TAPAS-BH-201, an acronym for Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon-201. Rustom-II was commonly believed to be an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle(UCAV) but at the press conference S Christopher, Director General of DRDO stated "Media reports are incorrect. Tapas is an UAV and not an UCAV."

TAPAS-BH-201 had a successful maiden flight on 16th Nov 2016 at Challakere, 200 km away from Bengaluru in the district of Chitradurga in south Indian state of Karnataka. It was tested for take off, landing and other parameters. Ten pilotless UAV's would be produced in one year. Nine prototypes more advanced than the initial one would follow for testing prior to the beginning of certification process.

However, in October, 2010 a senior DRDO official had stated,

“ The American RQ-1 Predator is an obvious template for the Rustom program. We’ve built a credible unmanned flying platform. The way the Americans converted a robust surveillance drone into a combat drone is something we are confident we can replicate for the Rustom-H. It will have a great deal of mission flexibility. [..]

[Work] is underway to define the weaponisation process.

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In February 2012, ADE Director P S Krishnan stated,

“ Designing of Rustom-II has been completed, purchase orders have been placed and we are on schedule to fly for the first time in February 2014. ”

In September 2013, the Rustom-II began full power taxi trials at the Kolar airfield near Bengaluru. Powered by twin NPO-Saturn 36MT turboprop engines, the Rustom-II is being developed as a long endurance surveillance platform capable of deploying precision weapons in future. It would carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles for all the three armed forces in India. Once inducted, this indigenous medium altitude long endurance (MALE) multirole drone is likely to be an asset for Indian armed forces for its surveillance capability as well as for its use as an unmanned armed combat vehicle.

As Livefist revealed in 2011, the DRDO is also developing an extended range version of the HELINA air-launched anti-armour system as a possible primary weapon for a future version of Rustom-II.

Powered by twin NPO-Saturn 36MT turboprop engines, the Rustom-II is being developed as a long endurance surveillance platform capable of deploying precision weapons. With a wingspan of more than 20m and an endurance of 24–30 hours, the UCAV needs a runway to takeoff and land unlike traditional UAVs, which makes it more trustworthy.

The drone can loiter autonomously at high altitudes performing real-time, high-resolution intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) with its SAR and EO sensors. When a target is identified, it will either illuminate the target with a laser designator for other strike aircraft, or descend to lower altitude and attack the target with its own air-to-surface missiles.

In contrast to Rustom-I, the next generation version is equipped with enhanced aerodynamic configuration, digital flight control, navigation system, communication intelligence, medium and long-range electro-optic payloads and synthetic aperture radar that will enable it to see through the clouds.

The capability of automatic takeoff and landing makes it comparable to some of the best in the world.

Once fully ready, the Rustom UAVs will replace Israeli Heron unmanned aerial vehicles being used by the Indian air force and the navy.

The team developing the Rustom-II has faced weight reduction and systems issues, resulting in delay in its debut flight by over two years. It will now undergo through a rigorous phase of flight trials.

The advanced version of Rustom-II will include greater endurance of 3000 km and service ceiling of 50000 ft, in addition to the weapons ability to deploy a wider variety of weapons, and payload of 3000 kg . The Indian Army, Indian Air Force , Navy and Coast Guard have all expressed strong interest in the Rustom-II, though firm orders will clearly only land during advanced flight testing."